Comments for Changing the World - click by click!

Comment on A nice view on leadership. by Tess

Tess — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:14:38 +0000

I agree that leadership is learnt through experience. Although academic learning is important, a lot of decision making is still done by intuition and “gut feel”. It is also important to take risks, evaluate and reflect on one’s failure to move forward.

Comment on We’re having an election! by admin

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:59:55 +0000

I think you are spot on…and all indications are that she is aware of that. She has declined to move into the Prime Ministers residence until she has been elected in her own right….which suggests she thinks does indeed need a mandate for her own Prime Ministership

Comment on We’re having an election! by Tess

Tess — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 10:37:02 +0000

Julia Gillard has no choice but to get a clear peoples’ mandate. We all see the deep mess Thai Abhisit’s administration is trying to solve.

Comment on Where you lead I will follow….maybe. :-) by admin

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:29:12 +0000

Tess, very well put!! I think we don’t always appreciate that some things we take for granted are not available to other people around the world.

Comment on Where you lead I will follow….maybe. :-) by Tess

Tess — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:05:50 +0000

Followers do have power in their hands to influence how their leader leads. It is a privilege that they can exercise this type of power. I come from a country where you do not quite see this because the same ruling party has been on board since 1959.

Comment on Mummy’s boy by admin

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:08:22 +0000

I think it is amazing how often I come across instances of ‘collective consciousness’!:-) My brother works for a group that recognises this issue and works specifically with men, helping them to develop their relationships with both their sons and their daughters. They focus on both the boys and the girls because research has suggested that the old idea that fathers raise boys and mothers raise daughters is not a complete enough model. And I know he would agree with you…there is still much to learn about the impact of fathers and current assumptions about their role!

Could you possibly give me link to the 2008 study if you can find one…my brother would be interested to have a look at it. Thanks very much,

Comment on Mummy’s boy by Tess

Tess — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:38:16 +0000

It interesting to note that while there is a lot of literature on the relationship of Mothers and their children, there may not be enough awareness on the impact of Fathers on children as far as the Ladder of Inference goes.

In 2008, a child psychiatrist in Singapore and his team researched the impact of uneducated fathers on their male children and discovered that these male children have higher incidents of learning difficulties and delinquent/aggressive behaviour.

What happens if the mothers of these families are slightly more educated or more active in the upbringing of their male children – will this mitigate the effect of the father’s lack of education? According to a social worker, the answer is mainly no because 1) men usually marry down - women who are less or not educated and 2) these male children have no positive role model and hence don’t stand a chance in society.

On some occasions, there will be a very resilient child who will overcome the odds but such cases are still a minority. This research shows (in Singapore at least) that there is still much to learn about the impact of Fathers and current assumptions of their role.

Comment on Nature is a sore loser by admin

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:29:56 +0000

I remember a certain Education Officer at SEPA telling me 15 years or so ago that we are basically stuffed cos we, as a society, are too selfish to give up the things we will need to. His answer, and, to me, still the answer, was benevolent dictators, who don’t need to fear re-election and so can just say ‘Any car above 2 litres is banned. Plasma’s are banned”. I would really love to see a Prime Minister who had the balls to say ‘I know that I am only going to get elected for one term…but in that term I am going to embed changes that can’t be undone easily’. The thing is once this kind of legislation was in it is highly unlikely it would be reversed. The ridiculous thing is that if plasma’s were found to leak toxic gases and were killing people they’d be banned in a heartbeat….and yet the environment, the source of our health and happiness, can go largely shafted! My rant over!

Comment on Nature is a sore loser by rhonz

rhonz — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:14:32 +0000

Ok so I’m a cynic when it comes to this - the whole “eco” marketing thing makes me sick - I see people every day taking thier v8 , 480 HP 4×4 gas guzzler to the Bottle Bank to recyle the wine bottles of last week and they think they are doing their bit for the environment but when it comes to building an incineration plant near them “not so fast matey”. I’ll do my bit for sure - and to me that is simply about not wasting too much - but that is not new our grandparents taught us that !

I do accept that man is influencing the climate for sure - but if we want to so something about it we have to get America to switch off the lights, tell India they don’t all need a car and tell China to stop burning coal. For the latter two I would imagine the response being - why should we ? you already have 4 cars per family and burn carbon fuel as fast as you can to keep up with the voracious appetite for energy.

If the “west” and I include US and Oz etc in that then they would start seriously to thinking about banning super charged, high fuel cars that run at about 27 Mpg on the urban cycle and Plasma TV’s that suck power for Scotland.

Sorry, rant over

well nearly - would someone please tell the mom’s who use one of the above mentioned 4×4 to run around town to stop. If a child is hit by a car going at 30 mph there is a chance that they will survive - hit by one of those and it’s very little chance of survival - these cars, in town are a menace and a danger to every kid and older person out there.

now, rant over - well for a bit. ………………….

Comment on LEAP into action! by admin

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:21:12 +0000

Tess, I think LEAP would very much agree with you…just arresting people who distribute and use drugs is not solving the problem…as you say, it is actually counterproductive!